Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Definitions

1. In this Act,

“crowdfunding” means the funding of a project by raising donations via the internet; (“financement participatif”)

“Minister” means the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport or, if another member of the Executive Council is responsible for the administration of this Act, that Minister; (“ministre”)

“prescribed” means prescribed by the regulations made under this Act; (“prescrit”)

“sponsored organization” means an organization that proposes to implement a project funded through crowdfunding under this Act; (“organisme parrainé”)

“target amount” means the amount of funds required to implement the particular proposal. (“objectif de financement”)

Minister to maintain crowdfunding website

2. The Minister shall maintain a website that facilitates the crowdfunding of projects that benefit local communities.

Submission of proposals

3. (1) Any person may submit to the Minister a proposal to fund a particular project through the website by providing to the Minister,

(a) a proposal in a form approved by the Minister that includes a description of the project and the target amount;

(b) any information or documentation that may be specified by the Minister; and

(c) any prescribed information.

Criteria for inclusion on the website, collection of donations

(2) The Minister shall accept a proposal and collect donations for a project through the website if it meets the following conditions:

1. The sponsored organization has approved the project.

2. The sponsored organization is a person described in clauses (a) to (c) of the definition of “qualified donee” in subsection 149.1 (1) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) or a prescribed person.

3. Any municipality on whose property the project will be located or undertaken has approved the project.

4. The Minister is satisfied that the project is not substantially similar to a project currently published on the website.

5. The Minister is satisfied that the proposed target amount would reasonably cover the costs of the project.

6. The project or sponsored organization meets any further condition that may be prescribed.

Information to be on the website

(3) The Minister shall maintain on the website in respect of each project:

1. A description of the project.

2. The name of the sponsored organization.

3. The amount of donations received towards the project in real time.

Minister to distribute donations

4. (1) If the donations received for a particular project reach the target amount, the Minister shall remove the project from the website and arrange for the funds to be transferred to the organization along with the names and contact information of each of the donors and the amounts of their respective donations.

Funds collected in excess of target amount

(2) If the Minister collects funds in excess of the target amount, the Minister shall refund any excess funds to the donors.

When donation made

(3) The donation shall be deemed to be made by each donor when the Minister transfers the funds to the organization.

Minister to remove proposals

(4) The Minister shall remove a project from the website and refund any donations if the project has been published on the website for 120 days and its target amount has not been reached.

Donations not part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund

(5) Despite Part I of the Financial Administration Act, the donations made through the website do not form part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Regulations

5. The Minister may make regulations respecting any matter necessary or advisable to carry out effectively the intent and purpose of this Act, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations,

(c) prescribing persons for the purposes of paragraph 2 of subsection 3 (2);

(d) prescribing further conditions for the purposes of paragraph 6 of subsection 3 (2);

(e) prescribing any requirements relating to the collection or transfer of funds donated via the website.

Commencement

6. This Act comes into force on January 1, 2018.

Short title

7. The short title of this Act is the Kickstarting Public Participation Act, 2016.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill requires the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport to maintain a website to facilitate the funding of projects that benefit local communities through the use of crowdfunding. The Bill establishes the requirements to submit a proposal for publication on the website as well as the manner in which the Minister is to collect and distribute the donations received via the website.